One critic’s view: “You think Battlefield Earth is the worst product John Travolta ever made? Well you’re right, but ‘Let Her In’ comes pretty damn close.” – Todd in the Shadows
The public’s view: 1.78 / 5.00
If you’re still young enough to get out of a chair without your bones making loud cracking noises, you probably don’t know about Welcome Back, Kotter and how omnipresent it once was. I was just starting kindergarten when this TV sitcom debuted, yet even I could recognize the signs of Kottermania all around me. Vehicles sporting “Kotter for President” bumper stickers drove up and down the highway with the show’s #1 hit theme song blaring out the windows. Children reused their Gene Shalit costumes from the previous Halloween by trimming an inch from the hair and mustache and going trick-or-treating as Kotter star Gabe Kaplan. The priest at my church incorporated the show’s signature catchphrase, “Up your nose with a rubber hose!”, into every one of his homilies. Of all the times to be alive, it was one of the stupidest (aside from 2025).
Kotter revolved around a group of academically impaired high schoolers known as “Sweathogs”. I enjoyed watching the program each week because it showed me what my educational experience would someday be like. High school was evidently going to be a world of wisecracks, pranks, and ethnic diversity. I might even get to finally meet a Jewish person. At my tender age I never grasped the show’s underlying humorous premise, which was that the Sweathogs had to be given their own classroom because they were in their mid-to-late 20s and were apt to commit statutory rape if allowed to freely mingle with the other students.
Every TV show needs to have a sex symbol who can pose on posters and magazine covers. The obvious male hottie on Kotter was John Sylvester White, who played Vice Principal Woodman. However, John Travolta unexpectedly stole the spotlight as Vinnie Barbarino, the leader of the Sweathogs. Around this time, Travolta went into a recording studio and sang “Let Her In” and nine other tracks for an album. I assume this was just a vanity project that he intended to give to his mom for Christmas instead of the potholder set that she really wanted. There was such a demand for Kotter merchandise, though, that the record wound up being released commercially. With the tailwinds of Kottermania pushing it along, “Let Her In” clambered its way up the charts and into the history books.
This song is a source of great controversy among those who study 1970s pop music. Some insist that “Let Her In” was a brutal affront to civilized peoples, but that Travolta took singing lessons afterwards and redeemed himself on the Grease soundtrack a couple years later. Other scholars adamantly disagree. They argue that “Let Her In” was a brutal affront to civilized peoples, and that Grease only made the crime worse. As usual when faced with a dispute such as this, I am going to deliver a screed that sidesteps the issue and appeases no one on either side.
First I must acknowledge that Travolta is a national treasure and one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars. His cinematic magnum opus Look Who’s Talking Too brought mirth and laughter to millions, and he repeated the feat with his portrayal of an angel in Michael. Therefore, it is my patriotic duty to grant him leniency in my review of “Let Her In”. Note that I have no patriotic duty toward the song itself, so my chief task here will be to deflect the blame onto others besides Travolta who had a hand in this disaster. I’m going to pin this mostly on Gary Benson.
Gary Benson is the English singer-songwriter who wrote and originally recorded “Let Her In”. Don’t cast aspersions on Travolta’s singing until you’ve heard Benson. His rendition of “Let Her In” is even more insufferable than Travolta’s hit version, though comparing two works of this caliber is like debating whether to drink a gallon of milk that’s five years past expiration or one that’s ten years past. Benson sings in an insolent high-pitched whine. Travolta mostly does the same, but slightly more memorably. His recognizable voice serves him much better at his day job as an actor than it does in music, but in “Let Her In” it at least gives us something to ponder while we frantically reach for the mute button.
Travolta seems to be imitating Benson’s stylings to try to make a very similar record, and unfortunately he succeeds. He didn’t have enough skill or musical ambition to mold the song into something better. “Let Her In” was never going to be a work of great artistic merit, but a superior singer like Barry Manilow might have elevated it to the status of a worthy flip side or a throw-away track to donate to an all-star charity album. It’s remarkable that such a bland composition was ever released as a single, and that it was able to reach the top ten with nothing more than Travolta’s inexperienced vocals to sustain it.
Inspired by his co-star’s unwarranted musical success, Gabe Kaplan put out a single as well: “Up Your Nose”. (Remember what I said about it being one of the stupidest times?) The cast of Welcome Back, Kotter had one consistent message to the record-buying public: “Up your nose with a rubber hose! In your ear with a can of beer!” However, having a can of Stroh’s shoved into your ear hole might not be as bad as listening to “Let Her In”.
My rating: 1 / 10
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